Hope Stape

Hope Stape is the daughter of John and Fiz Stape.

Biography
Fiz went into labour three months early on 6th December 2010 when an explosion caused a tram to derail and crash onto Coronation Street, throwing her to the ground. Following the birth at Weatherfield General, the baby was placed in an incubator and Fiz named her Hope. Soon afterwards, Hope needed a transfusion to fight off an infection, due to her weak immune system. A month later, it was discovered that Hope had a hole in her heart, thus prompting many people in the Street to help raise money - including the Websters who didn't particularly like the Stapes - and in total raised £100. Hope was discharged in March 2011.

John had a mental breakdown following his involvement in three people's deaths. In June 2011, when the truth about his crimes emerged, he took Hope from Fiz and Fiz was hit by a van trying to retrieve her. When Fiz was in hospital, John asked her to run away with him, but when she pressed the panic button, he escaped onto the building's roof with Hope. He was persuaded to hand the baby back, but threw himself off the roof. He was presumed to have been killed in the fall, but he actually went on the run, which led the police to believe that Fiz was responsible for the three deaths of Colin Fishwick, Charlotte Hoyle and Joy Fishwick.

Fiz was remanded in custody and allowed to keep Hope with her in prison. When Fiz was put on trial, John returned but crashed his car after kidnapping Rosie Webster. With John on the verge of death, Fiz went to visit him in hospital with Hope. John confessed to his crimes and told police that Fiz was innocent. He died moments later.

In late 2012, Fiz started a relationship with Tyrone Dobbs. The couple eventually moved in together with Hope and Tyrone's young daughter Ruby.

In August 2015, when on a camping trip with her family, Hope became ill. After a number of tests, a lump was found in Hope's abdomen and she was eventually diagnosed with the childhood cancer Neuroblastoma. She underwent treatment for the cancer and in addition to their stress and devastation, Fiz and Tyrone were disappointed that Hope wouldn't be able to go to Lapland for Christmas. As Christmas approached, Tyrone instead decided to bring their own version of Lapland to Weatherfield. However, doing so put Tyrone in a large amount of debt. Following treatment, Hope was declared to be in remission in February 2016 and made a full recovery.

In December 2017, Hope got into a fight with Ruby, who in turn pushed Hope off the trampoline in the back yard causing Hope to sustain a small fracture in her arm. The couple argued about the girls when Fiz suggested that Ruby could have inherited some of her ways from her mother. Tyrone yelled at Fiz and told her that his daughter was nothing like Kirsty. After the trampoline had been set on fire, Fiz discovered there was a cigarette lighter in Ruby's treasure box.

Background information

 * Although Hope was born on-screen in December 2010, she was not played by an actor until March 2011 due her premature birth. Harriet Atkins and Sadie Pilbury were the first in the role, playing her jointly as producers had intended to use twins but had been unable to find any that were suitable. Both girls played the role until October 2011 with twins Ava & Isla McCulloch taking over the following November and appearing until July 2012. A second set of twins, Faith & Nicole Holt, took over in January 2013. The Holt twins played the role until April 2017 before it was taken over by Isabella Flanagan in August of that year.
 * Isabella Flanagan's twin brother William has appeared on Coronation Street as Hope's cousin Joseph Brown since October 2017.
 * Hope was uncredited until Episode 8709 (17th August 2015).

Appendices
(To be completed)